I had a wide range of
reactions to Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (MC-85, HBO),
having grown up with the original cast record on the Victrola, and having
recently re-watched the 1961 film for my remembrance of Natalie Wood. First
off, I certainly enjoyed revisiting the musical, and seeing it take to the
streets, both choreographically and sociologically. I thought that’s what the original needed,
beyond the exhilarating outdoor opening, but here I had qualms about the mixing
of stylized and realistic violence.
Remembering every word of the lyrics, it was fun to see what Spielberg
and company could make of them, notably taking “Somewhere” out of the mouths of
Tony and Maria and giving it to a new character created for Rita Moreno, sixty
years on from her Oscar-winning role in the earlier film version. Most aspects of this production are
impeccable, but I couldn’t help comparing the characters to earlier
incarnations. The new version certainly
earns points for more authentic ethnic representation, but as demure and pretty
and tuneful as Rachel Zegler may be as Maria, my heart belongs to Natalie (the
Russian “Puerto Rican”), even as she lip-synchs. Ansel Elgort as Tony is an improvement on
weak-link Richard Beymer, but not by much.
Ariana DeBose as Anita steps neatly into
I can’t fairly assess Drive
My Car (MC-91, HBO) after a single viewing (compromised by a capricious
subtitle interface on Roku, which necessitated re-watching the conclusion on my
computer), but I can confidently assert that Ryusuko Hamaguchi is a masterful
filmmaker and deserves any of the four Oscars he is up for. This film is so dense, detailed, and
multilayered that it warrants not just a second look, but exploration of its
context and background. I for one needed
to brush up on Chekhov, to take in the dimensions of the multilingual
production of Uncle Vanya that the main character is directing in
Not a big fan of Wes
Anderson, but occasionally he hits my sweet spot, and as a lifelong subscriber
to The New Yorker, I was tickled by his parody of the magazine in The
French Dispatch (MC-74, HBO). As
is typical of
Wow, I did not expect Licorice
Pizza (MC-90, AMZ) to be so bad.
Of the directorial
Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (MC-70, Hulu or HBO) came with Oscar expectations, given his track record and an all-star cast, and did get a proforma Best Picture nod, plus some technical noms, but did not catch fire with critics or viewers. There are unquestionably good elements to the film, but it hardly holds together. Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water somehow earned their dark vision of humanity, while this just seems to adapt the noir-ish viewpoint of its 1947 precursor (which I haven’t seen), a carny world of geekdom. Bradley Cooper does okay as the central figure, as does Cate Blanchett as his foil, and more notable players than I can enumerate. But beneath the accomplished playacting I did not find much personal truth. There was some interesting dialectic on the comparable skills of mentalism and psychoanalysis, but it was superseded by the distasteful pile-up of bodies, and the overall lack of plausibility or cohesion. An exercise in style, with little in the way of real world resonance or relevance.
There’s one solid reason to watch the social media catfishing drama Who You Think I Am (MC-70, AMZ), and her name is Juliette Binoche. She plays a middle-aged French literature professor who’s been abandoned by her husband, and takes up with younger men. When one demonstrates his unavailability, she starts stalking another online, creating a much younger persona for herself. Interspersed with scenes with her therapist, we see her getting deeper into a virtual relationship based on an assumed identity. Then we witness the story she creates out of the encounter, and finally return to the reality of her situation. Safy Nebbou’s film is a rather mixed affair, but the star makes it highly watchable.
Since this post turned out to be heavy on the “Home Box,” let me mention two older films I was happy to watch again on HBO Max. Love & Basketball (2000, MC-70, HBO) definitely held up as the precursor to the outstanding AppleTV series Swagger, with Gina Prince-Blythewood following the twists and turns of a competitive-romantic relationship between a neighboring boy and girl all the way from a childhood playground to the pros, played winningly from teen years on by Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan.
Similarly, Moonstruck (1987, MC-83, HBO) held up for me, with its performances by Cher and Nicholas Cage among others, its writing by John Patrick Shanley and direction by Norman Jewison, and its broad ethnic humor among Sicilian types in Brooklyn. It remains a plausible romantic comedy in an age where the genre is on the verge of extinction.
And for more worthwhile viewing on HBO Max, check out the well-done new hour-long documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (MC-92), derived from David Blight’s award-winning biography, with excellent actors reading the Douglass speeches, interspersed with commentary and context. Too bad we can’t make Trump watch this program, so he’d actually know who Douglass was and “recognize more and more” what an “amazing job” he’s done.
After the Academy Awards have
had their final say, I’ll be back with mine.